--------
> for cluster programming. note that this topic is different from VIA-type
> user-level hardware access. and if you want a low-overhead message
> passing scheme that's still protected in the conventional sense,
> why not use good old UDP or even IP datagrams. (I wonder sometimes
> if the heavy machinery of TCP really makes sense in the context
> of private, switched networks. does anyone have a count of dropped
> frames inside a normal cluster?)
Actually, we have a little project going to do that, more or less. We're
actually pitching IP altoghter, but staying with the existing Linux network
protocol framework to implement a lightweight, reliable messaging service
that continues to work with the existing sockets interface. It requires
very little change to user code to use it. The question is - how much
performance savings is due to the protocol, and how much is due to the
interface? I don't claim to know the answer, so we figured we'd try it out
and see what happens.
Walt
--
Dr. Walter B. Ligon III
Associate Professor
ECE Department
Clemson University